A pair of miniatures, painted by Nicholas Hilliard, and depicting Elizabeth I and her favorite, Robert Dudley, were auctioned recently for UK£72,000. The portraits were believed to have been painted around 1575. (photo)

A throne, commissioned by distillers Glenmorangie and National Museums Scotland, and patterned after stone designs by the ancient picts, has become the symbol of a new research project to study Scotland's early history (photo)